by Ronnie Nathanielsz

An extremely confident Freddie Roach, celebrated, two-time “Trainer of the Year’ says his prized fighter, Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao “will go after this guy (Oscar De La Hoya) in the very first round.”

In an overseas telephone conversation with insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports from the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles , Roach said they won’t sit back and wait for De La Hoya to get tired and would instead “go forward and make him tired.”

Roach said they have already put in place a “good game plan” and that Pacquiao’s mind “is very, very good and he is very focused.” He said Pacquiao is “very confident” as he steps up preparations for the “Dream Match” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on December 6.

Pacquiao went ten rounds on the punch-mitts and worked through his entire routine but would only begin sparring next Tuesday against five fighters that Roach has lined up to push the Filipino southpaw to reach the best shape of his life for the challenging encounter at 147 pounds which is the stipulated weight.

Two of the five sparring partners lined up by Roach who include light middleweight Yuri Foreman (25-0, 8 KO’s) who stands 5’11, British lightweight Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KO’s) light welterweight Marvin “Much Too Much” Cordova Jr (20-0-1, 11 KO’s) and light middleweight Rashad Holloway (9-1, 5 ’s) watched Pacquiao workout so they would get an idea of what they need to do and what kind of fighter they are up against.

Roach said that after his workout on Thursday (Friday, Manila Time) Pacquiao weighed in at 151 pounds and would become lighter as his training regimen continues. Roach had indicated earlier that he would want Pacquiao to weigh-in at around 145 pounds and step into the ring on fight night around 147-150 in order to retain his amazing speed which Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said “kills.”

Roach, demonstrating his enthusiasm over the challenge of having Pacquiao move up from 135 pounds when he demolished David Diaz to win the WBC lightweight title to move up to 147 to take on Olympic gold medalist and ten-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya, said “Ronnie, I love this fight. Believe me.”

Although he conceded the six-city whirlwind tour of historic sites made them “a little tired, it was great” and Pacquiao was “working very hard.” Roach revealed that they had an invitation to watch the Oakland Raiders football game on Sunday since it was Filipino appreciation night but when he asked Pacquiao, his reply was “no, we are in training camp.”